


Comfort of the Familiar

by Akinasky



Series: Sterek Bingo 2018 [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Emissary in Training Stiles Stilinski, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Sterek Bingo 2018, Stiles has a familiar, sbdogs, sbwitchfamiliar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 18:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14676849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akinasky/pseuds/Akinasky
Summary: Stiles has had Echo for years but he never expected this.





	Comfort of the Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> Big note - this may or may not be a mini spoiler for the Not Robin All the Time series, where Echo is featured as Stiles's protector/PTSD dog. She can be read about in Trust the Instinct (Season Two)
> 
> I will not be added this to the series until much later if its going to be.

The transition happened slowly and all at once in Derek’s opinion. He’d been watching Stiles for years, he’d loved the human almost as long but sometimes the insufferable genius was kind of slow. And that usually happened when it had to do with his personal journey. He could tell Derek exactly what he needed to know, Stiles could help his dad and their pack with anything and everything but ask Stiles to notice anything about himself and it was like one giant blind spot.

When they first invited Echo to come home as Stiles’s PTSD/Protection dog, they had no idea that years later she would come to be so important to Stiles. Echo hadn’t been protecting Stiles for over six months now, sometimes she went to the college campus with Stiles because she was still legally allowed and trained to act as his PTSD/comfort dog and he struggled on the large campus with too many open spaces. Sometimes he still had panic attacks because he was convinced something was going to come for him when Derek and the others weren’t there to watch his back, so Echo still went with him and they still filled out all the necessary paperwork and took the necessary classes. Stiles still went to the range and he still studied martial arts and Krav Maga but all of those things didn’t make Echo any less necessary sometime.

Then on the weekends when Stiles was home, she went to work with the Sheriff because all the deputies loved her and she was basically a granddaughter to Noah. And when he was going to be out of touch for too long, Echo would get passed around to all the pack members because they loved her almost as much as they loved Stiles. Almost. Sometimes more so but only because she wasn’t a sarcastic little shit like her owner, or maybe she was and they just couldn’t understand her.

Then the first weekend of the Christmas break, Stiles was training with Deaton with Derek watching with patient amusement as he complained about all the reading on his winter break while Echo sat next to her owner when Stiles suddenly blurted out, “Who said that?”

Derek and Deaton both looked at him in confusion.

“No one said anything Mr. Stilinski,” Deaton said with a weary sigh of a teacher.

“No seriously, someone told me just now that they needed to pee!”

Derek shook his head, smirking as Deaton rolled his eyes, “Listen, if you are making up stories to get out of doing your reading, it’s your own issue Mr. Stilinski. You need to learn control, the Spark you have within is getting to be too powerful to go unchecked and you are going to be its first victim.”

“I’m not making things up!” Stiles complained then paused, “See there, again… someone said ‘Love you’,” Stiles turned to stare at Derek.

“What? It’s not me,” Derek returned, not needing to know what the human was thinking, “I definitely love you but we don’t have telepathy with each other. The bond doesn’t work like that. You need to stop reading that crap online, you know werewolf mythology better than most until you read that shit that I tell you is bull.”

“Okay fine, then who’s talking to me!” Stiles flailed and stood up. Echo followed suit, staring up at Stiles in expectation while he looked down at her. “Huh,” Stiles said, crouching down enough to pet his dog then taking a knee in front of her.

“Huh, what?” Derek asked even as Deaton looked at his student in enforced patience.

“Echo, is that you?” Stiles asked instead.

Derek frowned at the dog, then the human. Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath and sought out the bond he shared with Stiles, seeking the bond between the human and the dog and it was there. The bond between Echo and Stiles was different than the one between Derek and Echo but they were connected through an extension of the pack bond which hadn’t really been there before despite all the years they’d been together. Dogs weren’t meant to have pack bonds.

“She has a pack bond?” Derek asked Deaton and Stiles.

“She’s talking to me, its Echo talking in my head!”

Deaton stared at all three of them like they’d lost their minds, “Dogs don’t have pack bonds. If you’re going to play tricks on me, we will just have to pick this up another day.”

“We’re not making it up,” Derek and Stiles said in unison. Derek’s voice a lot calmer than the screech Stiles emitted as he lost patience with his mentor. Stiles looked at him in surprise then turned back to Deaton.

“Well?”

Deaton rubbed at his chin in contemplation, “It is possible that she is no longer just a service animal for you Mr. Stilinski.”

Stiles gestured widely while Echo winced a little but didn’t move away, “And? So? Therefore! Continue please?”

“Maybe she’s your familiar. You have enough power to need one, you need an anchor and something to help you focus, though Derek stands as a good anchor for you it is not his job to keep you balanced. It is his job to keep the pack balanced and cared for. Maybe she has stayed with you all this time, not accepting a new roll in someone’s life because she is meant to stay with you in a different capacity. If she has a pack bond, that would mean that you are not only a Spark but somehow Echo is being recognized as a part of you being Derek’s Emissary.”

Stiles snorted, “How can the bond recognize that in Echo when I don’t even recognize it in myself?”

Derek smiled fondly at his beautiful idiot of a boyfriend, “Because you were always going to be my Emissary. I’ve told you this over and over.”

Stiles shrugged, “I figured the time away would have screwed that up, we haven’t really talked about it recently.”

Derek didn’t want to talk about their separation, it had been a while ago but he still hated it. But Stiles did have a point, “Yeah, I still kind of suck at communication.”

Stiles shared a pointed look with Echo instead of turning towards Derek, “Ya think?”

“Anyway,” Deaton said, trying to bring Stiles’s attention back. “If she is your Familiar then this training will go much more smoothly.”

“Oh great!” Stiles said too soon.

“For me,” Deaton finished lamely as Stiles’s face fell into a pout and Derek laughed.

Stiles and Echo both turned towards him. Derek smiled at them, “Seems like things are falling into place then?”

“Yeah,” Stiles said, leaning forward and hugged Echo. He jumped to his feet and headed to the door.

“Where are you going?” Deaton demanded in exasperation.

“I told you, she wants to go outside. I’m taking my Familiar for a walk. Derek you wanna come?”

Derek grinned at Deaton’s put out expression, jumped up and followed Stiles, “Sounds like a plan.” He reached out and grabbed Stiles’s hand, pressing a kiss to the side of his boyfriend’s head as they walked out with Echo prancing happily in front of them.


End file.
